Hungry Goats Fill The Bill As Alternatives To Herbicides In Oregon Forest

February 24, 1985|By Susan Tebbe, United Press International.

CAVE JUNCTION, ORE. — Foresters looking for ways to control brush and weeds without using herbicides are putting goats in charge of ``site preparation`` in the mountains of southwest Oregon.

Five of the voracious animals--four pygmy goats and a dairy goat--were recently turned loose on a fenced 12-acre site that eventually will be planted with 6,000 Douglas fir trees.

``Site preparation`` was listed as the goats` job requirement and so far they have proven equal to the task.

Tentatively at first, but then with increasing enthusiasm, the goats moved from thistle to oak, from blackberry to madrone, munching as they went. From time to time one would stop to chew on a charred tree stump.

``I think we`ve got a good thing here,`` said Ed Shepard, a Bureau of Land Management forester, as he watched the animals browse.

The BLM Medford District first studied the use of sheep in brush control in 1980. The program was put into action after the courts banned the use of herbicides on federal land.

Sheep proved effective in open range situations, but this is the first time the Medford BLM district has tried goats.

Shepard is hopeful goats will prove superior to sheep and cattle in the rugged Siskiyou Mountains, where steep slopes and smaller sites limit the use of the larger range animals. Also, sheep don`t seem to have a taste for some types of brush found in the Siskiyous, while goats are less discriminating.

The goats also may be used on tree plantations if they can be stopped from eating seedlings planted by the BLM. The goats at Cave Junction showed a particular fondness for conifers, munching on Douglas fir branches lying near a fence, but foresters hope repellent will solve the problem.

To test the theory, 200 conifer seedlings were planted on the site. Some were sprayed with a repellent used by gardeners and farmers to keep deer and rabbits away from crops. Other trees were doused with ``goat slurry,`` a mixture of the goats` own urine and feces.

Hunt and Booi are being paid $960, or $80 an acre, for the five animals to clear the brush. That rate is more expensive than herbicides--which cost $25 to $60 an acre--but less expensive than a work crew at a price of $135 an acre.